THE COMEBACK KID: FROM BANKRUPTCY TO 8-FIGURE EXIT

ft. Rob Hunter

Rob is an eccentric entrepreneur who's pushing 40 and still never held a full-time salaried job. He's been an entrepreneur ever since he was a kid, selling Japanese professional wrestling VHS tapes and DVDs on eBay and his own website to pay his way through an undergraduate degree at the Ivey Business School. After dabbling in real estate, Rob sold his mini student-housing empire and got into the ice-cream business, opening seven Marble Slab ice-cream stores by the time he was 25. Little did he know that Winter Was Coming, as bankruptcy swiftly set in.

IN THIS EPISODE

In this episode, Raman Sehgal sits down with Rob Hunter. Rob embarked on a fresh start by moving to Boston to do his MBA at the #1 school in the world for entrepreneurship, Babson College. Over the next several years, he built and eventually sold HigherMe, an HR Tech solution for the restaurant industry that went through Y Combinator in 2015. He also tried to solve the US student debt crisis with Reset Button / Lexria, a venture-backed fintech.

Rob is back at it with Foundry, an AI startup that helps small businesses create, grow, and operate franchise systems. He also does some teaching back at Ivey and at the University of Waterloo.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robhunter7/

WHAT WE COVER

Scaling too fast with 7 Marble Slab stores, the hard reality of franchising, and eventual bankruptcy at 29
Turning that failure into a tech wedge, using his operator scars to build HigherMe through Y Combinator
The strategic pivot from “video applications” to making mobile hiring simple, including text to apply and removing every bit of applicant friction
Why focus won, narrowing to franchised restaurants and using a bottoms up foot in the door approach that eventually landed major franchise networks
Choosing a realistic path over unicorn chasing, staying capital efficient, targeting cash flow positive growth, and avoiding too much dilution and liquidation preference risk
The deal story, COVID as an unexpected tailwind, using strategic interest to create competitive tension, the emotional LOI moment, and the surreal bank refresh moment when the wire hit

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Rob Hunter

Rob is an eccentric entrepreneur who's pushing 40 and still never held a full-time salaried job. He's been an entrepreneur ever since he was a kid, selling Japanese professional wrestling VHS tapes and DVD's on eBay and his own website to pay his way through an undergraduate degree at the Ivey Business School. After dabbling in real estate, Rob sold his mini student housing empire and got into the ice cream business, opening 7 Marble Slab ice cream stores by the time he was 25. Little did he know that Winter Was Coming, as bankruptcy swiftly set in.

Rob is back at it with Foundry, an AI startup that helps small business create, grow, and operate franchise systems. He also does some teaching back at Ivey and at the University of Waterloo.

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